KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) has accepted an official invitation to join the Muafakat Nasional (MN) coalition.
The acceptance letter by Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was submitted on Tuesday.
Joint secretary of the MN secretariat, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, acknowledged receipt of Bersatu's acceptance letter, which is a response to an invitation letter extended to the party on Aug 13.
"That's the spirit of syura ... discussed and agreed upon by MN on Aug 6. The matter was reported to the Political Bureau and MKT (Supreme Working Council) on Aug 7.
"The letter was sent on Aug 13... (on) Aug 18, we received a letter of agreement from the Most Honourable President of Bersatu," he said via a Twitter post, last night.
Annuar was commenting on Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's statement, via his Twitter account yesterday, announcing that an MN meeting chaired by Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Pas deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, had decided to invite Bersatu to join MN.
"I and the Pas president signed an invitation letter to Bersatu based on the decision of the meeting," said Zahid.
On Aug 15, Muhyiddin announced that Bersatu's Supreme Council had agreed to join MN which backs Perikatan Nasional (PN) as a large coalition or 'the grand coalition'.
The Prime Minister said he believes that participation in the MN is the best option for Bersatu, as it is a large coalition which brings together the main parties in the country.
Commenting further, Annuar said that Umno and Pas, in discussing the direction of MN as contained in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) and its charter, had stated their commitment to bring the involvement of other parties in strengthening the unification of the ummah.
"Alhamdulillah, the goal of empowering MN organically as stated in item 2.2 MOU/charter is seeing success," he said.
Annuar added that MN is not planned to be exclusive – instead, it must grow organically, supported by the ummah.
"Politics of the new norm demand inclusion. Those who successfully build consensus and are not split will succeed.
"Alhamdulillah ... Umno and Pas' leadership is progressing," he said.